Google denies misleading customers over location data settings in court submission

Tech giant Google has denied it misled Australian consumers when it collected their location data.

The lawyers say Google’s Australian arm was not responsible for any data collection and therefore had no case to answer. Picture: AFP

Tech giant Google has denied it misled Australian consumers when it collected their location data, declaring in response to a landmark lawsuit that users of its Android mobile operating system had ample information about their location settings, as well as an opportunity to change them.

In documents filed to the Federal Court, Google’s lawyers argued that users could alter their location settings at any time, and that Google software prompted users regularly to check they were comfortable with their account settings.

The filings represent the first time Google has responded to the allegations by the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission that it misled consumers about the location data it collected. The case could cost the company millions of dollars in fines and force changes to its policies.

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“Google denies it made false or misleading representations or that it engaged in misleading or deceptive conduct,” lawyers from Corrs Chambers Westgarth said in Google’s filing.

“The allegations in the concise statement depend upon a limited, and therefore artificial and incorrect, account of the way in which users were provided with information relating to Google’s collection, storage and use of their personal data.

“Google provided opportunities for users to make informed choices regarding the collection, storage and use of their personal data by providing relevant information in relation to those matters in an accessible way.”

The company said users were also told in the company’s terms of service that, by using a Google service, they agreed that “Google may collect location data periodically and use this data in an anonymous way to improve location accuracy and location-based services” and “Google’s location service uses sources such as Wi-Fi, mobile networks and sensors to help estimate your device’s location”.

The lawyers say Google’s Australian arm was not responsible for any data collection and therefore had no case to answer.

“Google Australia did not supply the Google services or Android operating system to any consumers, collect or store personal data about users’ locations … at any material time,” Corrs Chambers Westgarth said in their filing.

The ACCC and its chairman, Rod Sims, claimed last year in a complaint filed to the Federal Court that Google’s menu settings from January 2017 until late 2018 were misleading, including that users’ location data would continue to be sent to Google even if the location history option was switched off.

The tech giant is facing fines of up to $10m, or 10 per cent of annual turnover, if it’s found to have breached Australian consumer law. Mr Sims said all customers using Google’s Android operating system had been misled.

“We alleged, in a sense, everyone was misled because they thought any location history turned off would mean their location history was off,” he said.

“We want declarations that the past behaviour was inappropriate. We want declarations that the current behaviour should not continue.”

It looks like that won’t be the case, at least not yet, with Google arguing in its response that the ACCC’s filing “focuses incorrectly on particular processes that a user could perform … as if those processes were the only opportunity for the user to understand the nature of the personal data about a user’s location that Google would collect, store and use”.

An ACCC spokeswoman declined to comment given the case was before the court.

“Geographic information helps us provide useful services when people interact with our products, like locally relevant search results and traffic predictions,” a Google spokeswoman said.

“There are a number of different ways that Google may use ­location: location history, web and app activity and through device-level location services. Google’s account controls give users the ability to control Google’s collection and use of information about their location.

“People can disable location history and web and app activity, and edit or delete the information, at any time. We recently announced new auto-delete controls for location history and web and app activity, incognito mode and your data in Maps.”

Following an ACCC inquiry into the market power of the tech titans, the federal government announced in December a series of reforms, including a voluntary code of conduct and a revamped Privacy Act that would help give Australians more control over their own data.

A case management hearing is set for February 3.